The deal to extend rent protections at Gateway Plaza is finally official, four days before the current agreement was set to expire.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced the news Friday afternoon, marking an end of protracted negotiations between the Battery Park City Authority and The LeFrak Organization, which owns the building. Silver helped broker the deal, which allows Gateway Plaza’s 3,500 tenants to stay in their apartments for the next 11 years with guaranteed lease renewals at stabilized rates.
The authority confirmed Friday that the deal was signed. The authority will cover the cost to LeFrak of keeping the complex stabilized, an estimated $80 million. Incoming tenants will not have rent protections.
Silver first announced a handshake deal between the authority and LeFrak in April, but it took another 11 weeks to finalize the terms. Jim Cavanaugh, the authority’s president, had said Monday there were “a lot of little sticking points” that kept popping up like a game of Whac-A-Mole.
The current stabilization agreement expires June 30, and LeFrak had not renewed any leases that were up July 1 or after. Those tenants, in particular, were waiting anxiously for the deal to become final.
Gateway management did not immediately return a call for comment.
— Julie Shapiro
